


Fight Night

by Ghost0



Series: New York Underground [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:00:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28140546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghost0/pseuds/Ghost0
Summary: When Spider-Man figures out that the Punisher is tracking Felicia Hardy, he joins her as she infiltrates Norman's home high in the sky. MJ, Ned, and Flash find themselves witness a fight between man and spider. All this going on as Matt Murdock says hello to his old foe, Dex. The information gained from Osborn's home reveals all, while the Sinister Six get ready for their confrontation.
Series: New York Underground [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2053425
Kudos: 2





	Fight Night

“Why are we doing this again?” MJ asked Ned as they walked along the street. “It’s not like we survived a near death experience in Vietnam together, we don’t have to hang out with Flash.”

“I just wanted something to get my mind off everything.” He admitted. “Hanging out with Flash seemed like the best way. And he seems to have been a little nicer to us since the whole Peter debacle exploded.” MJ shook her head but continued walking with him. They saw him recording himself on his phone, talking to his followers and being his usual douche self as far as MJ is concerned.

When they got closer, he put away his phone. “What’s up nerds? Just kidding.” MJ smiled and flicked him, but he just laughed and nodded. “So yea, couldn’t get enough people to come over for a party. So that’s dead.”

“Too bad.” MJ started to turn around. But Ned grabbed her arm.

“Wait! We can still chill. I got the new play station console and a couple of games.” He looked between the two of them. Ned seemed ready, but he checked in with MJ using a look. She resisted as long as she could, but she shrugged her shoulders in submission. “Awesome! Just one thing, don’t go to the second floor. We own it, but mother and father use that as their work areas so I try not to go up there.”

“Ah yes. Don’t want mother and father have to tell the butler to grab the shotgun and punish us for our insubordination.” Flash just grinned a little uneasily and lead them inside the building. They walked across the empty lobby, Flash waving to the doorman that let them inside. Reaching the elevator, He leaned over to press the button for the lower of the two floors owned by his parents. They stood in the elevator and listened to the standard elevator music. “My parents didn’t think it was a good idea to have everyone over at a time like this.” He tried to explain to them. “Thinks that might bring…unwanted attention from the wrong people.” While he didn’t say it, they all knew who Flash talked about. But it was hard to tell if he had the same feelings about him that his parents do. Flash and Peter weren’t friends per say, but he acted as though Peter didn’t exist. At least that’s what it seemed like to MJ and Ned. They weren’t there to see his initial reaction and he didn’t do any kind of reaction video, which seemed a little odd. But it was clear that wouldn’t be the conversation for the night, and they waited to head into Flash’s home.

******

“You guys had one job.” Jessica had her hands on her hips as she looked through the open window. Luke and Colleen stood behind her with Karen away a little more on the phone. 

Luke turned to Jessica. “We stepped out to grab some dinner. Didn’t think he would be this stupid. Where were you anyway?”

Jessica turned around. “I had to give his aunt some sort of update. Been on this case for roughly a week and I had to basically lie to her and hide the fact that I’m hiding her nephew. And apparently I wasn’t even doing a good job at that.”

Before anyone else could say anything else, Karen got off the phone and joined them. “Listen, I called Matt. I told him what was going on and he is going to head over and try and keep an eye out for him. Bring him back if possible.” They all stood around in a circle, unsure of what to do now or say next. Karen held her arms in front of her. “I know Frank. He’s not going to kill someone like Peter.”

“Have you been in contact with him?” Colleen looked over to her. “Because chances are he thinks Spider-Man is a murderer like anyone else. Maybe he can’t bring himself to kill him, but he’s going to make sure he stays down long enough for the police to handle.” Colleen stepped backwards then forward as she thought.

“I can try and see if I can get up there.” Luke offered. “Not like Frank has a chance against me.”

Jessica shook her head. “Normally I would be the first one to knock doors down and head into an unwinnable situation. But maybe he will come to his sense and head back here. Should stay here and beat some sense into him when he comes back.” And that was the final word. Silence filled the room, all they could do right now is turn on the news and keep themselves alert.

******

As the web slinger flew from building to building, Dex ran and jumped across rooftops to try and get an idea of where he was going. The surgery that fixed him up had also given him some extra speed and strength, but he still had to work to make sure he can have an eye on the kid. He wore an all-black outfit made for him by Oscorp. The one request he made for it that made it was that a white bullseye mark would be on his chest. While the entire suit is bullet resistant thanks to trace amounts of Vibranium, the only parts that are fully bulletproof are his chest and back. If anyone were to shoot at him their eyes and guns would instantly be looking at the bullseye, thereby wasting their ammo on the strongest part of his body. Right now he had no mask on, didn’t need it since it was night time and he knew how to stay hidden from the people down below.

He came to a stop on top of a building on the corner. The building in the distance that recently came into view, he knows that place. He knows where the kid is going. His hand reached to his belt to grab his phone to let Mrs. Osborn know what is happening. But as he brought it up, it was knocked out of his hand. A projectile hit the back of his hand and made him drop the phone onto the street below, getting run over and crushed by traffic. He laughed a little bit. “I was getting worried that my new job wouldn’t allow me to see you again.” He turned around to stare down the man across the rooftop. “Glad to know that I was wrong.”

The man in black, with his eyes covered and his fists wrapped in white bandages, simply stood and had his body facing Dex. He listened to the sounds around him. The cars on the street below, the dogs barking in the distance, but he focused his attention on the sound of Dex’s feet as he moved them to turn his body around. Memorized the sound of the movement, took note of how far away he was. Heard his feet spread apart quickly as Dex moved his body and threw a rock he had been playing with earlier against nearby door used for roof access. He threw at the right angle so that it could bounce off and head towards Matt. He moved quick, the rock moving above his head. “You are going to have to do better than that.” Matt said.

“Oh I will.” He moved quickly, faster than he could before Matt noted. The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen braced himself as he started to trade blows with an old enemy.

******

“Man that is a big TV.” Ned marveled at the big screen in front of him. “You must have an awesome sound system and set-up here. It would be pretty easy to play using the multiplayer function.” MJ walked around the room, headed to a book shelve and mindlessly traced her hand on the spines of the old texts.

Flash nodded and stood near Ned. “Yea, it is pretty sweet. I watched Jurassic Park on this thing with all the sound hooked up and that table shook with the T-Rex’s footsteps. I swear!” He waved to the coffee table behind them. A knock on the door made Flash turned around, a confused look on his face. When the opened the door, a lady stood in front of him. She seemed to be some sort of maintenance worker. She carried a tool box with her and wore a dirty jumpsuit but didn’t check to see if there was a name tag.  
She spoke quickly. “Here for second floor maintenance on request of Mr. Norman Osborn.”

Flash sported a confused look. “Father didn’t let me know he was having someone come by.” He turned his head to see Ned starting up the TV and game system. Simply shrugging and motioning with his hand, he let the woman walk in and go upstairs. MJ turned around when she heard the noise form the TV, but looked towards the woman quickly moving out of sight. All she could see clearly was her white hair tied up in a ponytail poking out the back end of her hat. But she pulled her attention away when Ned called her over and reluctantly joined the boys for whatever game they decide to start with.

She climbed up the stairs and set her book down on the floor. The kids would be busy and focused on what was in front of them, confident that they wouldn’t get suspicious and follow her up here. Felicia walked around a little bit and poked into the different rooms. A couple of bedrooms, a few bathrooms, a study but didn’t have any computers. She was so focused on trying to find the office on this floor that she didn’t hear the tapping at the window at first. Turning her head around, her eyebrows shot up and she had a huge open mouth smile on her face. A red masked man was on the other side of the window, Felicia moving forward. He pointed to the bottom of the window. She unlocked it and opened it up as widely as she could.

“I knew they would have you drop in on me! Well, less fact and more hope I guess.” She helped in inside and closed the window. “If it isn’t the amazing Peter Parker. Or do you prefer Spidey?”

“No, Peter is fine. Thanks, and hello.” He straightened up, gave a small wave. “So I’m guessing that you are – “

“Yes I am! The one and only Felicia!” She excitedly whispered it, waving her hand through the air as she said her name. “All though, maybe I should be like you and get a nickname myself.” She rubbed her chin. “How about…the Black Cat? Yea, I like that one.”

“But you’re not…and you aren’t wearing anything black?” Peter pointed out. “I think that is dark green though.”

“I don’t do all my jobs dressed like this.” Felicia smiled and crossed her arms. “My usual outfit is black. But enough about me, this job is about you! Can’t believe I am working with Spider-Man and stealing stuff!”

He moved in front of her, raising a finger. “Couple of things. First, I hope by stuff you mean evidence for why Mr. Osborn is trying to capture me. Beyond the whole murder frame that I certainly did not do.” He lowered his hand and tried to bring her back to the window. “Second, I’m here to tell you that you have to abort.”

She pulled away from him, still crossing her arms. “Look, I am a fan, I’ll admit it. But you still have to wait a couple of years before you can sneak me away for a late night make out session.”

“No! That’s not – why would you – listen!” Peter moved passed his surprise and regained focus. “I think you are being hunted! There have been some Punisher sightings near your home, I think you are his next target.”

“Huh. That solves the mystery of the museum.” She muttered to herself. Peter tried reaching out and pulling her again but she shook him off. “Look, I appreciate the concern. But I still have a job to do, one that you should be insisting that I complete. Besides, I doubt that he could find a way to get access to a place like this.” Peter still stood and shifted on his feet. She sighed and grabbed his hand. “If you are still so worried, you can follow me. You can help me find where he keeps his laptop.” She pulled and they went down the hallway and made a turn to check out a series of different rooms. As they walked down the hall, there was another hallway that they completely passed. Peter stopped for a moment to check out the broken window and the glass on the floor. But Felicia’s whisper made him turn his head and move towards her. She already went into the office and went straight for the chair, plugging in the drive and getting into his computer. “Let’s see what your password is…and done!” She said with a cheerful tone, typing away and looking for anything that she considered shady or suspicious.

Peter stood in the doorway. “Hey, I think someone tried to break in?”

“How, did they use a pogo stick?” She didn’t turn her eyes away from the screen. 

“I don’t know. Maybe one of those…things people use to wash windows from the outside?” Peter answered. “Point is; I don’t think we are alone.”

“Well you can stay there and keep your eye out. Your presence might have scared the big bad bogeyman away. I still have work to do.” She continued to type and search for things to download.

Peter remained standing in the doorway, looking out into the hallway. Felicia kept searching and downloading. He leaned back against the open frame and crossed his arms. The silence was starting to get to him a bit, and he was on edge, so he did what he did best. Talk of course. “So, you like cats?” He asked her. “Black Cat, makes people thing you like cats. I haven’t really thought about getting pets before.” Felicia looked up at him. “Maybe get a couple of Siamese cats once this is all over. The only thing that kind of makes me hesitant is the litter box. I don’t know how to clean those. So maybe it’s not for me.”

“Oh I don’t know. I think you would make an excellent cat lady.” Felicia smiled at him.

“Yea. Wait…what?” He turned his head around in confusion. She pulled the drive out of the computer and got back up. Patting him on the shoulder, they both exited the room. But they stopped dead in their tracks. Out from the other hallway, where Peter noticed the broken window, stepped out a man in black. As he turned around, they saw the picture of a skull spray painted on his bulletproof vest. Frank held a handgun tightly in his hand, staring down the pair with cold eyes.

Felicia was starting to realize the threat being posed to her. But if she shared anything in common with Peter, it’s the fact she likes to crack jokes and talk to lighten a bad situation. “Fine, you found out my secret. I work for Santa, helping him determine who should go on his nice list. Still on the fence when it comes to these guys.”

“Get away from her kid.” Frank told Peter. 

“Sorry Mr. Punisher sir, but I can’t – wait don’t do that!” Frank’s arm shot up and pointed the gun at Felicia. Peter moved fast and stood between her and the gun. “I asked her to do this! I think the Norman is hiding something and I needed to know what it was! It’s my fault she is here! Let her go and you and I can talk about this.”

“She’s still a criminal kid. Does what she wants for profit.” Frank kept his eyes trained on her. Peter looked between Frank and Felicia. A thousand thoughts ran through his head, not quite sure what to do for a moment. He let out a sigh, turning around and shooting a web to block the barrel of the gun. Peter jumped onto the wall and pushed off, delivering a punch across Frank’s face. He got behind Frank, who was turning his head to Peter. Shooting out more web, he pulled Frank towards him. But he was prepared and he managed to punch Peter right back. Felicia moved towards the two brawling, moving as they traded blows. She moved backwards a bit and then rushed forward. Bringing her leg up, she kicked him right in the back and sent him down the stairs to the bottom floor. Peter jumped down to try and use his webs to tie up his hands while he was momentarily dazed. But he froze when he looked up and found himself staring right at MJ.

“Peter?” Her eyes were wide open, and that was when Ned and Flash paused the game and came over to see what she was staring at.

“Parker?” Flash asked.

“This…uh, oh man…” Frank regained focus and tackled Peter. The kids moved as fast as they could out of the way. He ran forward, Frank lifting Peter in the air so he can slam him down onto the hard ground. The force was harder than Peter expected, knocking some of the wind out of him. MJ moved backwards, accidently tripping and falling backwards. She bumped into the nearby kitchen counter, rocking the vials that were standing on top until they leaned forward and fell onto the ground beside her. A couple of them contained green liquid which hissed a little bit as they were exposed to the air. One of the vials contained a black substance, one that seemed to connect to MJ’s hand and went up her sleeve. As the black substance got absorbed without noticing, MJ got back up and tried to find something to use. Grabbing a lamp, she hit the back of Frank’s head and it smashed into pieces. He turned enough of his focus away from Peter in order for him to get back up. Felicia hit the ground and rushed forward. Frank turned around and pulled a knife out. Felicia ducked down as he sliced at where her head was, cutting off a little bit of her ponytail. She sprung up and connected her fist to the bottom of his jaw.

“MJ!” He turned to her. “Get Ned and Flash away from there!” Peter motioned to them near the far wall, which was completely made out of glass overlooking the city. Nodding, she reached and grabbed both of them as she used all her strength to get both of them away and behind the kitchen counter. Peter moved to the windows. “Cat!” He yelled out, not wanting to expose her real name. She moved toward him while Frank took a moment to move past the pain radiating from his jaw.

“What’s the plan?” They looked at each other, and they both looked at the wall made of glass. Her eyes widened. “You can’t be serious Spidey.”

“You got anything better?” She looked back at Frank, who was now moving towards them. Parker shot out a web and pulled the Punisher towards him with as much force as he could muster. Felicia braced herself as she felt the full weight of Frank’s body slam into both of them and through the glass. “Grab on!” Felicia her arms around him and held on for dear life. Peter used one hand to reach down to a nearby building, pulling Frank with them. He had to time it just right, know when exactly to start the momentum. They fell downward, starting to pick up a lot of speed. Eventually, their direction changed from straight downwards to going at an angle. Swinging forward, now becoming parallel to the ground below them. Trying to make sure he wasn’t dragging Frank, he found a spot to let go and let him land on the ground. It probably hurt a bit, but shouldn’t have broken any bones. The Punisher moved onto his knees, looking up at the Spider and the Cat swinging away from him. He stared for a while until he finally forced himself to get up and move off the street and into the alleys.

Felicia held and squeezed as hard as she could, burying her face into Peter as they continued to swing. Eventually, they landed behind an abandoned store. She let go and moved away so that she could lean forward and vomit onto the ground. She spat on the ground and rubbed her mouth against her sleeve. “Really sorry about that!” Peter said. “I know; it was a death wish but it was the only thing I could think of! Again, I am really sorry that I forced you to do that, please please don’t be – “

“That was awesome!” Peter leaned back in surprise when Felicia straightened up. “Shit, it was scary as fuck! But it was also so…exhilarating!” She threw her hat away and held her hands behind her head. She awkwardly laughed, smiling as she did so. She spoke in between each chuckle. “I mean that wind!...And we were so close to…but then when we go up and you let go…we were soaring!”

She turned around and met his gaze. He started to pull off his mask, but she reached forward and grabbed his hands. “No! I just want to savor the moment. Remember that it happened in full gear.” Her grip softened as they stared back at each other. After a few moments, she let go and reached into her pocket. “Anyway, here is what I could grab.” The drive was placed into his hand. She smiled at him and started to walk backwards. “Stay safe tiger!” She turned and started to jog off. He watched her go for a few seconds, then turned and started swinging back to Colleen’s apartment.

******

He was met with the response he was expecting. “Are you fucking insane?!” Jessica yelled at him. “I’m glad Frank didn’t blow your brains out, because that would deprive me the pleasure of beating you to death myself!”

“I’m sorry! I just wanted to make sure he didn’t kill Cat!” He tossed the drive to Karen, which took her by surprise a bit.

“Cat?” Luke raised an eyebrow as he leaned against a beam and held his arms right in front of his chest.

“Oh. Well, we talked as she worked. Probably thinking of taking up a name like mine. You know, like Spider-Man. But she wants to go with a different animal theme.” He pulled his mask off, his eyes darting back and forth between everyone looking at him. Which right now was Jessica and Luke. Colleen walked over to Karen as she opened her laptop and started looking at the drive’s contents. 

“I am so glad that you were able to get along while dodging death.” Jessica said. “Frank isn’t a part of this! For all you knew, he would totally be willing to kill you! Thank God he isn’t that crazy. But you are the dumbest kid I have ever met, and I have come across my fair share. That’s it, I’m taking you back to your aunt’s and I SWEAR if you argue against me on this - !”

“Holy shit!” Karen got everyone to look over at her. Whatever got her to speak out loud also seemed to have caught Colleen off guard. Both women were staring in shock at whatever they were looking at. 

“What? What is it?” Peter asked. 

Karen looked over at Peter. “Well first of all, you should know that you didn’t kill Willis. According to this blueprint, there was a feature Norman put in that he himself could use to kill anyone wearing the suit at any time.”

“Sweet Christmas.” Luke uncrossed his arms as he stood straight.

“That’s not the big news though.” Karen sat straight. “We know how they want their endgame to play out. But if we play this right, I think we can end up clearing Peter’s name. But we need a strategy.”

******

Trish landed on her feet, crouching. She looked up at Mac Gargan, who had been fitted into his new suit. He had on green armor that completely covered his torso with a glowing yellow diamond in the center of his chest. He had a green helmet that covered his skull but left his face open, with the exception of a yellow visor covering his eyes. Sleeveless and wearing dark green armored pants with trace amounts of Vibranium, a long skinny appendage was connected to the back of Gargan’s armor. At the end of the long curling tail was a barrel that had a small opening. It glowed yellow, charging up before firing a blast of electricity towards Trish. 

She flipped forwards, feeling the heat of blast almost grazing her as she moved. Rolling on the ground, she stood up and extended her claw hand towards him, stopping right in front of his exposed throat. While Gargan might have some pants with a little Vibranium, Oscorp had given her a suit completely made out of the precious material. It had a resemblance to the Black Panther suit, but dark yellow with her feet and hands being black. The suit almost came equipped with claw like blades for her hands. Her face was covered with domino mask and her hair tied into a ponytail. “Kill shot. You lose.” She told her sparring partner.

They heard the door slide open, both turning to see who it was. Some guy walked in with a white bullseye mark on his black outfit. She took note that it seemed to be a little like her outfit, but with far less of the material in it. He turned to them. “Where’s Osborn?”

“Melissa or -?”

“Either of them!” He snapped. That was when she noticed there was blood coming from his nose and ran down his chin. It seemed to have dried up for the most part. But it was still fresh. From the other end of the training room another door opened, with Melissa stepping out. He turned to her. “We have an issue. Murdock caught me off guard. But the – “  
“The vigilante, Spider-Man.” Melissa’s eyes very briefly flickered over to Trish. Due to her being on the Raft, she never got the chance to hear the full story regarding Spider-Man. All she was told was that he is a wanted fugitive who murdered a famous hero. She was never told his identity or his real age. And the Osborns secretly told their other agents they want her to remain ignorant for as long as possible. 

“Yea. I was trailing him and recognized that he was heading to your place. Tried to contact you but that’s when I got ambushed.”

“Do we know where he is?” Trish walked away from Gargan and moved towards them. “Let’s catch him if we have an idea of where he is hiding out.”

Melissa shook her head. “I am already aware of what happened at our home. And we already have a plan for capturing the fugitive. But we need to have him come to us. We need to show the city that we will not allow people like Spider-Man to have free reign.” She looked at all of them. “I suggest you get as much rest as possible. Save up your energy for tomorrow.” She turned and walked out of the room. As she walked down the hall, she ran into Adrian who seemed to be focused on her intensely. “Good evening Adrian. Is there something you would like to discuss?”

“Yea, there is.” He crossed his arms and cleared his throat. “I know that you and your husband aren’t exactly role models. You dress yourselves up very nicely but you don’t have to put on a front for me.” Melissa seemed to relax her body ever so slightly, tilting her head as she curiously waited for him to continue. “I just want you to know that I have been doing some thinking. I’m more than willing to help take down Peter. But if you expect me to kill him…I’m sorry, but I can’t be your man for that.” He held her gaze as he waited for her to respond.

To his surprise, she smiled at him. But it made him feel more guarded and alert than relaxed. “I appreciate your honesty and directness Adrian. It is important that we are all on the same page. But as you know, our official job is to bring in Peter Parker and have him face punishment for his crimes. Like with any other manhunt, if someone from the team ends up in a confrontation that forces them to use lethal force, no one would blame them for what happened. Sure, shock and sadness, but that is the danger of tracking down someone like Mr. Parker. If withholding yourself from using lethal force is your preference, we won’t force you to do anything that goes against that. But remember that some of your teammates probably don’t hold the same beliefs as you do. But I’m sure they will do everything they can to avoid that.” She walked past him, Adrian looking over his shoulder at her. He was left with his thoughts and doubts, standing for a little while before returning back to his quarters.

As the two of them parted ways, Melissa went to the far end of the facility. She approached a secure door, the sign above the doors reading “Project Jackal”. Melissa had her hand scanned before entering the room. In the middle of the lab was Norman, who she approached. “Just got off the phone with Eugene. In addition to Spider-Man, there was another unnamed woman as well as that Punisher vigilante. They all seemed to be engaged with a fight.” He turned around to listen to her. “No damage that can’t be repaired from a structure standpoint. But the vials I had brought home have been broken. The Goblin samples are useless and there is no sign of where the space sample went.”

“It’s possible that when it mixed with the formula sample was disintegrated. It doesn’t matter, we got all the use we could have gotten out of it.” Norman put his hands in his pockets. “The memories have all been successfully uploaded and he has been brought up to speed. Let’s welcome agent S2 to the world of the living.” They both turned around to see a man walk towards them. “Tell me, are you ready for the next and final step? The city has turned against him and we have the support of the NYPD.”

The face of Quentin Beck smiled. “Looks like I was right in partnering up with you Osborn. But this time, I will hold off celebrating until I hold Parker’ dead body in my hands.” He placed his helmet on his head, completing the Mysterio outfit.


End file.
